


The Beautiful Stranger

by M_Moonshade



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Gore, M/M, collapsing buildings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2018-01-03 03:35:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_Moonshade/pseuds/M_Moonshade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the wake of an explosion, Kevin Free finds himself suddenly free of Strex-issued mind control, and he rushes to help the other victims of the disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beautiful Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this based on a prompt by Easterlily-92 and brought to my attention by Nazi-Nurse on her tumblr over yonder: http://nazi-nurse.tumblr.com/post/66031074040/how-do-you-think-that-kevin-would-react-if-diego-was-in

The first thing Kevin became aware of was the explosion. It assaulted his senses— so bright and loud that it momentarily robbed him of sight and hearing, but he could still feel the fire scorching his skin, the shock waves battering his insides, taste the chemical burn in his lungs.

His vision hadn’t yet returned to focus when he climbed to his feet, but he could make out people, most in charred lab coats, some wandering aimlessly, others running for the exits.

Above the screams, the air was full of a steady roar of “what happened” and “where am I?” and “where’s my family?” Even if Kevin wasn’t too busy choking on smoke and fumes, he wouldn’t have bothered joining the shouts. Clearly nobody here knew any better than he did. He ran to the first person he saw on the floor, helped her to her feet, got her into the arms of another survivor who was limping for the stairs.

Rushed to a second. A third.

People were clearing out with each passing second, spurred on by the panicked cries of “the building’s coming down!”

His instincts told him to join them, to race into the clotted stairwells or make for the windows. But he heard something else.

A human voice, so quiet and far away it should have been lost among the chaos. Without a second thought, he raced toward it. Toward the source of the explosion.

Bodies littered the floor, reeking of bunt hair and charred meat. One by one he checked their corpses, searching for a pulse, his stomach rebelling as one by one he came up empty. But he had to keep looking.

“Hello?” he shouted as loudly as his abused lungs could manage. “I’m coming! Can you hear me?”

A cough. A rasp. “K-Kevin?”

The man lay on the floor not far from the epicenter of the blast, shielded in part by mangled safety equipment. He was covered by a patchwork of burns, but even so, Kevin was struck by the inhuman beauty of the man’s face. Dark, delicate skin. Clear, intelligent eyes. An elegant face that could have made Michelangelo weep.

Kevin dropped to his knees beside him and tried to gather him into his arms. “Sir, you’re going to be okay. I’m going to get you out of here.”

“Sir?” The beautiful stranger’s eyes fell to Kevin’s throat. “The collar. It’s broken.” He choked out a laugh that could have been a sob, and Kevin drew back.

“Did I hurt you?” Kevin shook his head. “Never mind. I’m sorry, but we have to hurry. The building’s going to come down any minute, and—”

“You don’t know me at all, do you?” the stranger asked quietly.

Kevin couldn’t explain why the look of disappointment on his face hurt him so badly. “I don’t know a lot of things right now. I think I hit my head in that explosion. But we can figure it out after we get you out of here.” He ducked down to scoop up the stranger again, but this time he was stopped with a hand to his shoulder.

“Stop,” the stranger said. “Kevin, please. Just stop.”

“You don’t understand, I have to get you out before—”

“It’s not going to make a difference.” He smiled—more like smirked—and a trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. “Concussive force is a bitch.”

“No, you’re going to be fine,” Kevin said. Tears threatened at the corners of his eyes. “I’ve got you, and I’m going to get you out of here, and you’re going to be fine. And—and I’ll remember you, and—“

An arm wrapped around his neck, and the stranger’s lips pressed against his. Kevin tasted blood, stunned that the flavor should feel so familiar.

“No,” the stranger whispered against his lips. “I think it’s better if you just forget.” Kevin stared, stunned and horrified, as the stranger sank back to the floor.  “Now get out of here before the building comes down on top of us both.”

Kevin shook his head, mute, and the stranger rasped a dark laugh.

“Let me rephrase.” He pulled a handgun from his lab coat and trained the barrel between Kevin’s eyes. “Get out of here now, or I’ll shoot you.”

Kevin didn’t remember how he got to his feet, or what route he took to escape. Afterwards, he was only dimly aware of the sight of the StrexCorp headquarters coming down behind him in a shower of glass and steel, of standing in a crowd of people who were as stunned and confused as he was himself.

He was still there. Hours after the dust settled. Years later, he would still wake up in a cold sweat, that last moment burned into his mind.

A beautiful stranger who tasted like blood.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Future Tense of Fear](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1460830) by [fairbreeze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairbreeze/pseuds/fairbreeze)




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